


Warmth

by cecania



Series: The Misadventures of Eerie-Dark Years [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-05
Updated: 2017-10-05
Packaged: 2019-01-09 05:40:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12270021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cecania/pseuds/cecania
Summary: Hunts don’t always go as planned for one reason or another. Sometimes they hurt for unexpected reasons.(Written for Inktober for Writers)





	Warmth

 

            Jolting awake, Eyra’s hand searched for the gun under her pillow. But she let it go when Spooky woofed softly in greeting to whoever had slipped into the room. “Gladio?” she mumbled. He was the only one who had a key to the quarters she had at Meldacio.

            “Go back to sleep, Eerie,” he said softly.

            Her head lifted and she squinted across the room at him. The shutters on the windows blocked out the lights from outside and the clock barely shed any into the room. She could only just see his outline as he moved away from the door.

            She immediately buried her face in the pillow when he flicked on the bathroom light. She started sagging into the bed when she heard the water turn on for the tub.

            Looking over her shoulder, she stared at the half-opened bathroom door. What was he doing? He hated the tub, usually opting to use the headquarters’ showers before he came to her bunk.

            Something was wrong.

            Eyra pushed out of bed and padded across the room to the bathroom. She knocked but pushed the door open before she got an answer. He was already in the tub, feet up on one side, arms hanging over the edges, and his head falling back against the other side.

            The steam coming off the water didn’t hide the marks on him but a quick glance showed they were minor enough. The amount of steam rolling off the water did bother her though.

            “You’re going to use all of the hot water,” she said, reaching for the water.

            “It’s fine,” he muttered.

            Her fingers jerked back as they grazed the tap. “Gladio! This is too hot!” she cried, reaching for the taps. “You’re going to hurt yourself!”

            His hand closed around her wrist, pulling her away. “It’s fine.”

            She stared at him. “You’re freezing! Gladio, no, this is too much and you really will hurt yourself!”

            His grip tightened before the water sloshed as he leaned back in the tub. “Fine.”

            She cranked the cold water on, turning the hot down so it would be lukewarm. Even that was pushing it but she didn’t think he was going to get out of the tub if she told him to. “What happened?” she asked, running her hand through the water once it was cool enough and trying to spread it through the tub. “You only left yesterday.”

            “Finished early.”

            Pressing her lips together, she didn’t say anything. They’d been at Meldacio for two weeks, him hunting and her working as the resident medic. It wasn’t the first time they’d done it over the last year and she knew it wasn’t going to be the last either. They both earned too much here for it to be the last.

            But she would seriously consider it if he kept coming back from hunts like this.

            Trailing her fingers through the water after she shut it off, she listened to his breathing. He seemed fine, despite the cold temperature of his skin. At least physically. “Flans?” she asked quietly.

            “Yeah,” he grunted.

            Eyra huffed and turned to him. He was still slumped in the tub, eyes closed. “You gonna tell me what happened? Or do I have to pull it out of you?”

            He remained quiet but she didn’t budge. This wasn’t the first time he’d come back from a hunt completely shut off. Sometimes she let him get away with it, let him sort through whatever was going on in his head, but she was too tired for it today.

            Lifting her hand out of the water, she said, “Gladio, what is this?”

            His chin came down, his eyes cracking open. “Your engagement ring?”

            “And what does it mean?”

            He frowned at her and opened his eyes fully. “That we’re getting married eventually. Unless you’ve changed your-”

            “It means we’re partners,” she interrupted, flicking water at him with her other hand. “It means we’re supposed to help each other. Are you going to let me help you or keep sulking in the tub?”

            Gladio’s mouth flattened and he looked away from her. She listened as he exhaled sharply through his nose, shifting in the tub to brace his feet against the bottom of it. She fully expected him to get out of it, to walk away without answering her. But he stayed put, breathing loudly and evenly.

            “Big guy,” Eerie said, softening, “please?”

            “Lose the shirt unless you want to get it wet.”

            Pushing off the floor, she tugged the shirt over her head and wriggled out of her panties. “It’s not going to fit both of us,” she warned as he moved in the tub.

            “We’ve fit in smaller places.”

            Well that was certainly true. “Help me?” she asked, holding out her hands.

            He kept her balanced as she stepped into the tub, carefully placing her feet between his legs. It wasn’t the easiest thing to settle against him and her legs curled awkwardly but she cuddled against his chest, tucking her head on his shoulder. She wasn’t a fan of the water or how cold he was but she kept her mouth shut about it. It was hard not to shiver though.

            His hand trailed along her back, his fingers stilling at the scars before moving on. “Noct hated fighting them,” he said softly. “Hated them. Called ‘em mushy desserts.”

            It was hard not to react to the name. Beyond a very long conversation the day after he’d gotten back from Niflheim, Gladio hadn’t talked much about Noctis in the last year. She didn’t want to spook him off of it now. “Is that why you took the hunt?”

            “Nah. Was an easy one, close by. I wanted something quick but….”

            “What happened? You’re practically frozen stiff,” Eyra said quietly.

            “I’m warming up,” he protested.

            Not enough for her liking. When he was done talking, she was bundling him into bed and maybe making a run to the infirmary to steal more blankets. “Gladio.”

            He sighed and she felt his chin rub against her hair. “Got hit with more ice than I expected and it…well, it made me remember something. Which meant I got hit more.”

            Looking at the scratches across his chest, she didn’t doubt that. “What did you remember?”

            “Noct was a great fighter, skilled with almost any weapon you put in his hands.”

            “Must have had a good teacher,” she teased.

            He snorted. “I wasn’t the only one that trained him.”

            “Since when are you modest about that?”

            “I have to be because as good as he was with weapons, he fucking sucked when it came to magic. Do you know how many times he hit one of us with it while we were fighting?” He snorted. “Burnt, shocked, frozen. All of it. He never seemed to get the hang of using magic for something beyond summoning and warping. Ignis could hit the head of a pin from a mile away but Noct seemed to use all of us as target practise.”

            “Seriously?”

            “Seriously,” he chuckled. “It was the worst.”

            That would explain some of the injuries she’d treated while they’d been travelling Lucis.

            Gladio sighed and pulled her closer. “I miss him,” he said lowly. “Stupid aim and all.”

            Her heart tugged at the catch in his voice but she could hear him shivering. She loved him and wanted but this couldn’t keep going. Kissing his neck, she pushed away from him and said, “Come on, babe. I need to tuck you in before you catch a cold.”

            He stared at her and it was impossible to miss the hurt on his face. “Eerie….”

            She leaned in to kiss him slowly. “You need to be healthy, Gladio,” she breathed. “The king will need his Shield strong when he comes back.”

            Gladio inhaled deeply and caught her arms before she could go anywhere. “He’s coming back,” he said, mostly to himself. “He’s coming back.”

            Eyra smiled at him and gently pulled on him. “He is,” she agreed, “so you need to be around when he does. You aren’t going to do that sitting in a tepid tub of water. We’ll tuck in and cuddle and get you warm.”

            He squeezed her gently before nodding as he let her go. “Right. Right,” he repeated.

            She pushed out of the tub and grabbed towels as she stepped out of it. She wasn’t sure he was going to want to talk about Noctis once they were tucked in but either way she needed to warm him up. She stiffened a little when he wrapped his arms around her from behind and leaned into her.

            “Thank you, Eyra,” he said softly. “Thank you.”

            Her eyes closed and she sent a small prayer to the Astrals to send Noctis back to them.


End file.
